Wireless communication utilizing bands operated under the IEEE 802.11 standards has become increasingly popular. The IEEE 802.11 standards typically utilize the 2.4 GHz and/or the 5 GHz bands. Because these communication bands are of limited bandwidth, the increase in use often results in particularly high interference levels. To alleviate problems associated with high interference, some standards provide for utilizing more bandwidth. For example, the IEEE 802.11ac standard (which currently utilizes the 5 GHz band) is expected to provide a throughput on the order of 1 gigabit per second by utilizing channels of wider bandwidth, i.e., a bandwidth of up to 160 MHz, which itself may be divided into, e.g., eight (8) 20 MHz sub-channels, four (4) 40 MHz sub-channels, or two (2) 80 MHz sub-channels. Future standards are expected to increase channel bandwidth even more. For example, a proposed future IEEE 802.11ac standard utilizes both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Also, the proposed IEEE 802.11ad standard additionally utilizes the 60 GHz band.
Devices operating under the IEEE 802.11 standards may increase data throughput by aggregating one or more of the available sub-channels for simultaneous use in transmitting and receiving data. However, even in the most discrete case, the devices are able to utilize two or more adjacent or contiguous 20 MHz sub-channels for communication, but are constrained to utilize subcarriers only within the available sub-channels. To fully utilize available spectrum, an IEEE 802.11 device should be able to utilize carriers across multiple sub-channels, even across disjointed bands (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and or 60 GHz bands), without regard to whether those carriers are within an otherwise unavailable sub-channel.